Perfecting Vocals on Modern Playback Systems

[@TheTonyTitan]

MSED is a life saver

[@Wizardofvoz2]

Great video. You guys work hard on your animation and it shows.

[@sageaudio]

Appreciate that comment endlessly, thanks for watching!

[@rafalvarezsevilla]

„Airpods don‘t have any air“ 😂

[@countryguitaronline]

Thanks great video

[@GeorgeDimovelis]

why use MSED and not simply tweak the stereo seperation knob on the mixer channel?

[@guycohen14]

Check ya mix on the pods

[@snubdawg1386]

gza - shadowboxin' is one of my reference tracks when it comes to mixing, especially the vocals, the main vocals sound pretty dry and not overprocessed (exactly like i want it) and this mix is nearly 30 years old and still works on every device i listened it on! ...i recorded vocals mostly with the sm7b (lots of processing) and i'm pretty satisfied with my mixes listening on my main monitors, in the car, on the phone but when i listen to it on my tv it's so muddy, boxy, kinda inaudible, big difference to gza - shadowboxin' ....i also recorded a rapper with a pretty quiet voice and the noisefloor on the sm7b is way too loud ...i don't know i really don't like any of the new condenser mics i tried so far (oldest were u87ai and akg 414 from early 2000s) ...right now i switched from sm7b to synco d2 shotgun mic in my less ideal room...but getting a mix and vocal sound like gza - shadowboxin' is still a mystery to me, this mix sounds so simple and still so fu**in good

[@sageaudio]

Always good to have a great reference and thanks for watching! Have you tried using a cloudlifter with the SM7B?

[@snubdawg1386]

@@sageaudio yes, triton fethead

[@NKWTI]

I was able to get one of my tracks to sound like that, and I think I know how they achieved it. I put a saturater for all vocals on a bus I’m sending them to and just apply it lightly to the vocal just till they start to feel a bit more “in your face.” Logic has a “phat fx” plug in that I only turn one section on for and then set one knob to a low “tube” sound and then second to saturation, probably only at about 12-15%, the fader on the bus will do the rest of the work for “how extreme” it’s applied. If you don’t have anything that explicitly says saturation, a similar way to refer to it is soft distortion. When not truly used to apply a distortion effect, it can appear to add some texture.

[@saadzamil8626]

Make a video about How to fix muddy vocals How to make vocals thin How to fix thick vocals

[@sageaudio]

Thanks for your comment! A lot of addressing these issues/topics you've mentioned can often be as simple as EQing certain cuts/boosts in the vocals. That said, we have multiple videos that cover these topics, which I'll link for you below: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIe0iIOJh9uqjqs kzbin.info/www/bejne/l37Zg5argN2JkMk kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZnPahaube5Z4bs0 kzbin.info/www/bejne/epiXgoevmcudpKc kzbin.info/www/bejne/jKbTmouDqKZ5fqs

[@mttlsa686]

basically ear buds just emphasize the frequencies that shouldn't be emphasized...

[@BelllllAA-x8l]

For heavily compressed modern vocal driven music, yeah. But that same boost makes hearing voices easier, which is the primary use case for earbuds on a phone.

[@burns46824]

good stuff. My life is all in the analog realm! Still running my tape machines, so I have to apply some of these principles in a slightly different way

[@weevilsnitz]

I'm gonna disagree with the idea of making changes in the mix to sound better on one specific device. Apple earbuds are one specific device, but there are so many others. Tell Apple to change their tuning.

[@underduckbro]

I agree and disagree, as for the expressing your soul aspect? Absolutely. Heck the opps right to darn. BUT! As for like commercialized production, we have always been modifying our mixes to be more intelligible. Like back in the late 50s when there was a lot of trucking country songs they would CRANK the vocals to ensure they could be heard over the roar of the truck and engines. Especially since they didn’t have aircon they would keep windows open etc

[@Apophis392]

0:21 I’m sure Sage Audio is just saying this to avoid over complicating, but the iPhone’s speakers have had a left and right channel on either end of the phone since the iPhone 7. You can hear it you hold the phone horizontally right in front of your face. Otherwise, yes, it sounds pretty mono.

[@GermanFragEditing]

5:30 🤣🤣🤣

[@tommyapocalypse6096]

The problem is in trying to "perfect" vocals at all. Part of the beauty of human vocalizations is in the inconsistencies and idiosyncrasies of the human voice over the duration of a song. Oftentimes, perfect is the outright enemy of good. And it's always the enemy of "done".

[@kozmobluemusic]

No need to get philosophical, this is about the more technical side of production (where there are in fact “better” ways to do something), than it is about the characteristics of a vocal performance.

[@tommyapocalypse6096]

@@kozmobluemusic I'll get as philosophical as I want. And one person's "perfect" is nother person's "obsessive compulsive." Perfection - even in this context - is still a subjective concept. You can attain all the scientific levels of excellence and efficiency (aka "perfection"), and still end up with a shite listening experience. You can also fall short of those criteria and come up with sonic gold.

[@sageaudio]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! You make a great point about the unique qualities of human vocals. Those inconsistencies can definitely add character and emotion to a performance. Striking a balance between perfection and authenticity is key, and sometimes the imperfections can make a track feel more relatable and genuine. That said, this video isn't discussing making "perfect vocals" in terms of performance, it's about getting your vocals translating as perfectly as can be on modern playback systems.

[@kozmobluemusic]

@@tommyapocalypse6096there isn’t a perfect pasta recipe out there but there is a perfect way to boil water so you don’t set your house on fire